by James hmv London, 24/11/2015Bio"Like the legend of the Phoenix, I've just eaten a whole packet of chocolate HobNobs..."
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More details on David Bowie's new album emerge: “We were listening to a lot of Kendrick Lamar”

David Bowie's long-time producer Tony Visconti has revealed more details about his 25th studio album, ★ (Blackstar), due to be released on January 8th next year to coincide with the singer's 69th birthday. Speaking to Rolling Stone, Visconti revealed that he and Bowie have been drawing inspiration from some surprising sources: “We were listening to a lot of Kendrick Lamar. We wound up with nothing like that, but we loved the fact Kendrick was so open-minded and he didn’t do a straight-up hip-hop record. He threw everything on there, and that’s exactly what we wanted to do. The goal, in many, many ways, was to avoid rock & roll."

Visconti also revealed that work on the album begun as far back as mid-2014 when he met with Bowie and drummer Zack Alford at his studio, Magic Shop, but then it went quiet for months: “There was no clear communication from him until December. That's when he told me he was ready to make the album."

The pair have been working on the album in between Bowie's work on a stage musical, Lazarus, and there are reportedly a wide range of influences on the album's lyrics, including the poet John Ford and even some of the dialogue from A Clockwork Orange: “The lyrics are wacky, but a lot of British people, especially Londoners, will get every word."

The new album is available for pre-order online (see the link at the top right of this page), plus you can watch the video for his new track below...